Learning

Youth Health Corps

Education Specialist

The Youth Health Corps (YHC) program is an opportunity for participants from Leeward coast
high schools to spend time at WCCHC as a part of its Health Careers Training Pipeline. YHC
teen members participate in educational, training and volunteer service opportunities through
the Ho`olōkahi Department and within the infrastructure of WCCHC. The program includes
mentorship by ATSU School of Osteopathic Medicine medical students who share information and
skills they have learned in their own training. This dynamic helps our teen participants learn
new things and expand their concept of shared learning. Teens in the program have been able to
learn such skills as how to suture, how to take blood pressure, Body Mass Index and other
healthcare career skills. In addition, the teens also learn that it takes commitment to reach
your goals.

The YHC program components are designed to increase awareness of health issues, involve participants
in community education, and assist them in learning new skills, to provide them with support to
access higher learning opportunities and to introduce them to career opportunities in the
healthcare professions. This is all done through a model of learning which incorporates the teens
learning through engagement & inspiration –YHC program infuses the curriculum with learning
fieldtrips to many College campus such as UH Mānoa, John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM)
and Leeward Community College. Fieldtrips also include cultural experiences such as Ka`ala Farms,
Waipahū fishponds, and even been a high ropes challenge at Camp Erdman.

Each teen in the YHC program is involved in the Health Careers Shadowing/Mentorship
component where they can explore a variety of health career professions via experiential learning
placements in various clinics and departments at WCCHC. It is in this working organizational
environment that the participants observe and assist healthcare providers from a variety of
healthcare professions in actual daily work situations and be included in the operations of each
site. Their site mentor, a practicing health professional, will provide oversight, instruction and
hands-on activities.

The YHC participants also receive significant support to help them access higher education opportunities,
specifically college application and financial aid. The teens are also given the opportunity to enroll in
early admissions for college credit courses with Leeward Community College while still in their senior
year of high school.